Joy!!!

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

So the Lord really showed me my purpose for being at camp this past week. I'll be honest, I was kind of discouraged about being there because I just felt like it was really different and I wasn't sure of if anyone really needed my help. My girls s

eemed to be really good and not in any real huge spiritual encouragement or wisdom that I could give them. I had four girls and they seemed to really know how to hold their own. But there were three very distinction reasons the Lord showed me of why I was there...and actually, now that I think about it there are four. 

The first one is for Mo

rgan. She was the girl I told you about in an earlier blog. She left Tuesday night. She was a very smart, bright, honest, observant girl. She was quiet and I could tell she wanted to talk to me and share with me things she was struggling with, but didn't know how to get it out. Monday night we had a one on one and she talked and explained how she doesn't know how to trust the Lord and doesn't understand why the Lord would let bad things happen. So I got to explain to her the sovereignty of God. I told her about Job and how he had all these bad things happen to him, but he still praised God for it. He understoo

d God's sovereignty. I told her that he lets things happen for our good and for his glory. She didn't understand how God could be selfish. Well, he has a right to be I told her. After that conversation, I asked her if there was anything else she wanted to talk to me about because I could just sense there was something she wasn't telling me but wanted to but didn't want to tell me. She decided she would write me a letter and I said that that would be fine. She asked me what my testimony was and half way through it, she asked me again about trials and my depression that I went through this spring. And then she proceeded to tell me what she was really thinking about. I was then able to explain the Gospel to her. I could tell she was thinking about things, but didn't say what she was thinking. 

Monday night comes and we are about to go into session and she tells me that she called her mom and she was coming to pick her up because she just wanted to go home and wasn't having fun. I was heartbroken. I didn't want her to leave. I cried when she left and asked the Lord to help me trust him in this situation. Being at camp would've been a great thing for Morgan, but God had a reason why she

 wanted to go home so I'm gonna trust him in that. Being in that situation solitified my desire even more to be a high s

chool counselor someday. 

The second significant thing that happen was gaining a really great friendship with another counselor named Hollie. We hiked the mountain together so it was just us for like an hour and a half going up. We were able to talk about anything...God, our kids, boys, school, work. It was great! We became good friends after that. I really enjoyed our open conversations and am grateful for the work the Lord had done in that. 

The third significant thing that happen was Amanda's salvation. She is the girl in the picture. 

Friday night is our worship finale. It is a very intense, emotional time. We sing for about 2 hours and there is a short message. The message was about serving each other and how Christ washed his disciples feet. So the counselor's washed our campers feet. It was a really sweet time. So there was really no Gospel message. It was just a go out and serve each other message. Well, half way through the worship time, o

ne of Hollie's girls leaves crying and goes down stairs. I didn't see any of this going on, but Hollie comes up to find and says that Amanda doesn't want to talk to her, she wants to talk to me. Amanda was one of my girls from last year. So I go down stairs and find Amanda crying and I sit next to her and she throws her arms around me and says that she can't forgive herself for something in the past. I

 don't know what to say at this point and so I ask the Lord to give me wisdom in this situation. My heart was breaking for this girl who is looking to me to say that everything will be ok and you can forgive yourself. Once I started talking, though, I knew it was definitely the Lord that was speaking through me. I had no idea what to say. But I tell her that ultimately, she needs to ask forgiveness from God because he is the one she has offended. I start to tell her about David in the Psalms and I ask her if she has ever read the Psalms and she said that she didn't even own a Bible. I told her the first thing we are doing on Saturday is getting her a Bible. So I explained to her how David was considered a man after God's own heart because of his repentful heart. She

 committed adultery with another man's wife and then had that man killed, but he was still considered a man after God's own heart because he understood he was a sinner. I then asked her if she understood that she was a sinner and she said she did. Romans 8:1 came to my mind which is the verse at the top and I asked her if she understood what that meant. She didn't so I explained that if she has repented of her sins and turned in faith and trust in Christ then she is no longer considered guilty. She is considered innocent in the sight of God. I asked her if she has ever prayed to ask for forgiveness of sins and she said she had never prayed in her life. She didn't and I asked her if she wanted to and she said she did. She told me she didn't know how so I said that it was like talking to me only you are talking to God and asking him to forgive you of your sins and asking for strength to live her new life with Him. Well...she did!!! I was sooooooooo excited!!!! I mean, I was on a spiritual high after that! I told

 her that I had been praying for her for a year. It was so amazing to be apart of that. After I gave her advice about what to do now that she is a Christian, we went up stairs to join in the last few songs. It was the first time we was able to worship her Savior! I had been watching her all week and she never sang and that night she did! She was free t

o sing to her Redeemer! 

The fourth significant thing was that it was just good for me to be there for my own spiritual health. It was so kind of the Lord to allow me to apart of Morgan's, Hollie's, and Amanda's lives. I truly don't deserve to be apart of that. But it was so kind of him to use someone like me for the sake of his kingdom. It was good for me to be there to see the kids that are spiritually deprived and they don't know it and to have more of a burden for them. A friend of mine at church pointed out to me while I was telling her my story that theses kids are at a Christian camp and they know it's a Christian camp, but they didn't bring their Bibles, but they still wanted to come back. That is definitely a working of the Lord. And also not to take for granted that people know the Bible or have even read the Bible. Amanda didn't. It was good for me to be dependent on the Lord for wisdom throughout the week and to watch and pray expectantly and to worship the Lord without distractions. I was reminded through the songs of my savior's love for me. I am spiritually and emotionally drained, but

 I love it! I love being this tried and drained for the purpose of enhancing the kingdom of God. 

I'm really glad I went. It was a great week and God did amazing things. Praise the Lord for the kindness of God that leads to repentness! Praise the Lord that it is truly He who does the work! 

(the pic below to the left is of me and my girl Breezy. She was my camper for three years. I had her sister thi

s year)

this pic is of Hollie and I on the last day. Yeah, we be tired.